How I Fixed My Iron-Deficiency Anemia Naturally

Iron-deficiency anemia is the most common cause of anemia in the world. It occurs when blood lacks adequate healthy red blood cells.

“Iron is needed to form hemoglobin, part of red blood cells that carry oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (a waste product) from the body. Iron is mostly stored in the body in the hemoglobin.” – Johns Hopkins Medicine

Without enough iron, our bodies can’t produce sufficient hemoglobin, thus leading to iron-deficiency anemia.

I think I had low iron for many years but it wasn’t until I started working with my current Naturopath that I realized I had iron-deficiency anemia.

Because my ferritin was so low, I did 3 iron infusions spread out across 3 weeks to raise my iron levels quickly. Let’s just say I met my out-of-pocket max very quickly that year…..

From there, I took a daily iron supplement to maintain normal levels.

If you’ve ever taken an iron supplement, you know how crummy they make you feel. So incredibly nauseous. And the upset stomach? No thank you, ma’am.

It’s almost worse than the symptoms themselves.

And that brings us to today. I no longer take an iron supplement, because I *finally* figured out what was causing the iron-deficiency in the first place.

Symptoms of Iron-Deficiency Anemia

Iron-deficiency anemia can go unnoticed at first, but as the condition worsens, symptoms become much more obvious. Symptoms such as:

• Extreme fatigue
• Weakness
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain
• Fast heartbeat
• Pale skin

So basically what I’m describing so far is a vampire. No wonder they need blood to survive.

But wait, there’s more.

• Headaches, dizziness, lightheadedness
• Cold hands and feet
• Brittle nails
• Sore or swollen tongue
• Irritability
• Desire to eat strange substances like dirt or ice

Another common but not commonly mentioned side-effect of iron-deficiency is heavier menstrual bleeding. This is because low iron stores can cause more bleeding, and if you’re already bleeding for a week straight every month, it’s kinda hard to get your iron stores back up before it starts again.

Really, it’s a vicious cycle. “I am low in iron, so let’s get rid of MORE of it instead of preserving it.”

Honestly, make it make sense.

Causes of Iron-Deficiency Anemia

There are quite a few causes of iron-deficiency anemia.

Surprise, surprise, the cause of my iron-deficiency anemia, and potentially yours, isn’t one that’s listed on ANY of the websites I’ve stumbled across. Not Johns Hopkins Medicine, not Mayo Clinic, not even Hematology.org.

Which is crazy, because iron-deficiency anemia really comes down to two and a half main causes:

1. Chronic bleeding/blood loss

2. Malabsorption

2.5. Insufficient intake

Sources of chronic blood loss that can cause iron-deficiency anemia include, but are not limited to:

• Heavy menstruation
• Peptic ulcers
• Hiatal hernia
• Gastritis
• Esophagitis
• Colon polyp
• Ulcers
• Hemorrhoids
• Colorectal cancer
• Frequent blood donations
• Chronic nose bleeds
• Other various sources of chronic bleeding

Iron-deficiency anemia caused by malabsorption of iron due to gastrointestinal disorders include:

• Celiac disease (affects intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients from digested food)
• Inflammatory bowel disease such as ulcerative colitis
• Crohn’s disease
• Peptic ulcer disease
• Low stomach acid

Lastly, main cause #2.5 for iron-deficiency anemia is insufficient iron intake due to:

• Not eating enough iron-rich foods
• Pregnancy, as more iron is needed for mother and baby
• Bariatric procedures like gastric bypass surgery which make it difficult to consume and absorb enough iron (so this may also be a malabsorption issue)

All of the medical website’s brush on the malabsorption of iron, but none of them mention the malabsorption being caused by low stomach acid. But I did 🙂

I have had low stomach acid and iron-deficiency since at least 2015, and low stomach acid was NEVER brought up in any of my multitude of doctor’s appointments until 2023. That’s EIGHT years, for something so simple and in my eyes, fundamental.

How Low Stomach Acid Causes Iron-Deficiency Anemia

Hypochlorhydria is a condition characterized by low stomach acid, specifically low hydrochloric acid (HCl). Hydrochloric acid is the strongest acid the stomach produces and is crucial for digestion and immunity.

Hyperchlorhydria is when you have too much stomach acid, also known as acid reflux or heartburn. Many times, hypochlorhydria is mistaken for acid reflux, as poor digestion caused by low stomach acid can create gas bubbles that rise into your throat and burn.

Stomach acid is responsible for many digestive functions, including breaking down food, especially complex proteins; initiating digestion; activating digestive enzymes, which further aid in breaking down food; and absorbing nutrients.

Stomach acid is also crucial in preventing bacteria, viruses, and pathogens from food from wreaking havoc on our bodies by creating an inhospitable environment where they can’t thrive.

When you have low stomach acid, your body is unable to properly break down food and absorb nutrients. This leads to nutritional deficiencies, like iron-deficiency anemia, calcium deficiency, magnesium deficiency, B-vitamin deficiency, to name a few.

Furthermore, when you can’t digest your food properly, it has to go somewhere. And that somewhere is your digestive tract, where it ferments and can lead to small intestine bacteria overgrowth (SIBO). Which is another thing I suffered with for too long.

Most common, immediate symptoms of low stomach acid include:

• Abdominal pain
• Bloating
• Burping
• Gas
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Undigested food in poop
• Reflux
• Heartburn
• Indigestion
• Nutritional deficiencies

Over time, severe nutritional deficiencies caused by low stomach acid can lead to:

• Intestinal infections
• Brittle nails
• Hair loss
• Paleness
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Weakness
• Numbness or tingling in hands or feet
• Memory loss

As you can see, a lot of these symptoms of low stomach acid overlap with the symptoms of iron-deficiency anemia. Which also happen to just overlap with a lot of different health conditions. But still, just more proof that vampires are just severely deficient in vital nutrients.

In hindsight, all of the signs point back to me having low stomach acid.

Abdominal pain. Bloating. Gas. Diarrhea. Extreme fatigue. SIBO. Several nutritional deficiencies, including iron-deficiency anemia.

I’m just grateful I finally figured it out.

Okay, so what causes low stomach acid?

• Atrophic gastritis, the result of chronic inflammation in the stomach. This is the most common cause of low stomach acid, where the cells that secrete stomach juices atrophy (weaken) and stop working. Causes include bacterial infections, autoimmune disease, and alcoholism.
• Pylori infection, a common bacterial infection that eventually decreases stomach acid, which can eventually result in the bacteria taking over since there’s not enough stomach acid to ward it off.
• Acid-reducing medications, such as antacids, H2 receptor blockers, and proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), as they were originally intended for short-term use. Long-term use can eventually cause the acid-secreting glands to stop working.
• Chronic stress. There is research to suggest chronic stress can inhibit the secretion of stomach acid.
• Zinc deficiency, as zinc is necessary for the production of stomach acid.
• Age. People 65 and older are more likely to have low stomach acid.
• Stomach surgery, particularly gastric bypass, can reduce stomach acid production.

As far as I’m aware, chronic stress stemming from my childhood and sticking with me through adulthood is the root cause of my low stomach acid. #adversechildhoodexperiences

I think food sensitivities may also contribute to low stomach acid production, just based on my own experience, but I haven’t found any conclusive research to prove that so take it with a grain of salt.

How to Test for Low Stomach Acid

I’m going to state the obvious here, which is to speak with your health care provider.

If they don’t listen to your concerns about possibly having low stomach acid, then find someone who will. I know it’s a lot of work having to find new doctors, but it’s worth it to have someone who listens to you.

It is your health after all, not theirs.

It’s also important to get to the bottom of why you have low stomach acid in the first place. If there’s an h. pylori bacterial infection running rampant, you need to get that fixed as soon as possible so it doesn’t cause more issues. And if your low stomach acid led to SIBO, you should probably definitely get that resolved as well.

With all that being said, my naturopath had me do a Betaine HCl “challenge” to determine if I had low stomach acid.

Essentially, you take 1 betaine HCl capsule (650 mg) prior to your largest meal. If you feel burning with one capsule, you most likely do not have low stomach acid. If you do not feel a burning sensation with one capsule, you will repeat this again the following day with 2 capsules, and so on until you feel a burning sensation.

As an example, if you start feeling a burning sensation after 3 capsules, then moving forward, you will take 2 capsules before your largest meal of the day to increase your stomach acid.

Because I am not a doctor, I do not recommend taking this supplement without the guidance of a health care provider, as they need to help you manage it.

 These are all supplement brands I know and trust, and the seller on Amazon is also trusted.

Can Iron-Deficiency Anemia Be Fully Cured?

I am proof that iron-deficiency anemia CAN be cured. And I have the labs to show it.

These are the results from my first round of labs done by my new-at-the-time Naturopath. Based on these numbers, particularly the ferritin, she stated I was “mildly anemic” and ordered 3 iron infusions to quickly get my levels up.

After the iron infusions, I got labs done again, and my ferritin and iron had increased significantly, indicating no iron-deficiency anemia. She then had me taking an oral iron supplement daily (2 capsules) to maintain the levels so I didn’t become anemic again.

After 5 months, my ferritin and iron were still holding strong with daily iron supplementation. But the side effects 😖

Two weeks later, the company I got my blood drawn at accidentally retested my ferritin and iron when I went in for thyroid labs, and it showed my ferritin had dropped quite a bit in a short timeframe. This was probably taken shortly after my period is all I can think, but all the more reason to continue taking the iron supplement.

After taking the oral iron supplement for 9 months and feeling extremely nauseous and unwell for 30 minutes after taking it every day, I finally asked if there was anything else we could look at to figure out why my iron was low to begin with. Because I really hated taking the iron.

That’s when my Naturopath recommended trying the Betaine HCl (which she had actually mentioned months prior but I was focused on other things at the time and dismissed it).

So in November 2023, I finally did the Betaine HCl challenge. I think I made it to 2 capsules before I felt a burning sensation. While this doesn’t seem like much compared to some people who take 3+ capsules before they feel any burning, it still validated that I have low stomach acid.

I got labs done again in February after taking the Betaine HCl daily since December, and my ferritin and iron both improved a bit more. But something wonderfully unexpected happened once I started taking the Betaine HCl: I no longer had painful abdominal bloating every day. IYKYK. AND, I was finally able to tolerate the oral iron supplement, because I was finally able to digest and absorb my food and supplements properly.

And on August 02, 2024, this is what my labs looked like. The only thing I had changed during that timeframe was taking the Betaine HCl every day with my iron supplement.

Because my iron levels were SO high, my Naturopath had me stop taking the oral iron supplement and just continue the Betaine HCl since it was helping with the abdominal pain.

I had labs redone on November 13, 2024, and my iron is much lower than in August, but is now within normal ranges, and my ferritin is holding steady in the 40s.

I guess if you were to read into all this, you’d say I technically “cured” my iron-deficiency anemia with those iron infusions. And taking a daily iron supplement helped prevent me from becoming anemic again.

But none of that got to the root cause of the iron-deficiency that caused the anemia in the first place.

And the answer to that years-long mystery is low stomach acid preventing me from breaking down and absorbing the iron (and other nutrients) from my food.

The next step in this is working to increase my stomach acid levels naturally. But until then, I’m currently taking 1 Betaine HCl capsule a day, usually at lunch, unless I have a large breakfast. I personally have found that if I wait until dinner to take it, my body hasn’t been able to break down all the food I’ve had throughout the day, leading to the abdominal pain, bloating, and gas that forces me to lay down and not move for the rest of the evening.

And I no longer have to take any iron supplements that leave me feeling like shit.

What an absolutely positively incredible relief.